On Thursday of last week, British Cattle Movement Services (BCMS) withdrew 59 passports of Limousin cattle with a Ballinloan prefix or related to a Ballinloan animal. This also means that the pedigree status of these animals and their progeny are in doubt.

The most notable passport withdrawn is that of Ballinloan Jaegerbomb. This bull’s pedigree was questioned over a year ago and it is understood this sparked a BCMS inspection into the Ballinloan herd. The resulting questions led to a change in the 24,000gns bull’s birth mother, with the British Limousin Cattle Society reinstating the pedigree status of Jaegerbomb.

As Jaegerbomb was an AI bull with export-standard semen available, sales continued following the all-clear.

Registrations

To date, 226 calves have been registered on the UK Limousin database, with a further 13 registered on the Irish system.

18,000gns Ballinloan Jerricho.

It’s understood that over 500 doses of Jaegerbomb’s semen have been sold north and south of the border in Ireland in the past 12 months, with many still due to be born.

Due to Jaegerbomb now being six years old, many of his own progeny have gone through the sales ring already and have been purchased by pedigree breeders.

Some of the more notable ones are the 18,000gns Gunnerfleet Merving sold to Procters farm, the 17,000gns Gunnerfleet Next sold to the Dyke herd, the 15,000gns Gunnerfleet Mars sold to the Norman herd, along with a string of bulls sold from 5,000gns to 10,000gns.

Jaegerbomb son Gunnerfleet Next was Carlisle junior champion and sold for 17,000gns. \ Wayne Hutchinson

Jaegerbomb daughters were also in high demand, selling as high as 12,000gns for Huntershall Nebraska.

While the passports of progeny from Jaegerbomb have not been withdrawn, their pedigree status is in doubt.

British Limousin statement

In a statement released by the British Limousin Cattle Society on Thursday evening, it says that the BCMS has withdrawn passports for various Ballinloan animals and progeny of Ballinloan animals. This comes after the news that the lineage of Limousin bull Ballinloan Jaegerbomb was questioned.

The society also states that the cause appears to be a result of “errors relating to the registration of either the date of birth and/or the parentage of the animals”.

It is understood that the BCMS has also sent notices to the owners of the relevant animals regarding the same.

While Jaegerbomb stands as the most notable, there are a number of other high-priced animals which have also had their passports withdrawn.

  • Ballinloan Jericho was sold for 10,000gns on the same day as Jaegerbomb, but later sold at a dispersal sale to the Swalesmoor herd for 18,000gns.
  • Ballinloan Lush which sold for 14,000gns to the Stocksbridge herd.
  • Both Ballinloan Messi and Master which sold for 12,000gns each.
  • Two other bulls whose passports were withdrawn were sold for 10,000gns each; these were Ballinloan Lethal and Ballinloan Lazer, both going to pedigree herds.
  • Ballinloan Lambourghini hit the market at 7,500gns.
  • Ballinloan Marshmallow sold for 7,000gns.
  • These are just a selection of the 59 animals which had their passports withdrawn. If it turns out that these animals do not regain their pedigree status, it stands to affect thousands of cattle, leading to millions in lost revenue.

    Ireland

    Before the British Limousin Cattle Society released its official statement, it was known that Jaegerbomb progeny would not be allowed to attend the society’s premier sale in Carlisle this month.

    Following the official society statement, the Irish Limousin Cattle Society then notified its breeders of a similar stance it will be taking for its premier sale this Friday and Saturday. This means the exclusion of one bull from this weekend’s sale.

    While it would be impossible to put a definite cost on the issue, some quick sums can be done up for what the loss of Ballinloan Jeagerbomb alone could stand to cost pedigree Irish breeders.

    Ballinloan Messi was Carlisle intermediate champion and sold for 12,000gns. \ Wayne Hutchinson

    Looking at semen sales of 500 doses, costs already stand at over €35,000.

    If we take it that 250 calves are set to be born from these straws, not including ET programmes, it again rises massively.

    One son of Jaegerbomb has sold in Ireland at public auction at a price of €4,400. Take this as an average, with many capable of making a lot more and some less, at 125 bulls, this adds up to a potential loss of over €550,000.

    Adding this with the females and initial semen cost, prices could come in somewhere around the €750,000 mark.

    Daughter of Ballinloan Jaegerbomb Huntershall Nebraska was sold for 12,000gns. \ Wayne Hutchinson

    This is for Ireland alone, with just semen use for Ballinloan Jaegerbomb. The UK is dealing with 59 Ballinloan cattle whose pedigree status is in doubt, meaning thousands instead of hundreds of animals or descendants are also at risk.

    This means it could accumulate to an eight-figure sum.

    Dam verification

    This all started due to speculation surrounding the ancestry of one animal. This highlights just how important dam verification is when genotyping.

    Many current DNA tests undertaken only carry out a sire verification and not a dam. Ireland is relatively good on this count, with a number of the main breed societies making it compulsory to DNA-type all first-calving cows.

    Coupled with the surge in genomic evaluations being undertaken due to the BDGP and progressive pedigree farmers genotyping all calves, this means that it is unlikely that something similar won’t happen on this side of the Irish Sea in the future.